Finding Inspiration in yourself and then using it

As you all can easily notice, I often find things that I find inspirational. You all know, cause I share them here on a daily basis. However, when it comes to my own work, I often feel really uninspired. I'm so tired and busy from living life and working etc. that I don't put as much effort into my photography as I should.

I'm trying to work out if I'm just lazy and making up excuses, or if it's okay to slack off a bit because I'm so tired. Most people (especially my friends and family) would agree with the latter- but I want to be better. Now. I'm quite impatient really. I want to be as good as everyone I find inspiring- NOW. please?!

Jenn Stark wrote about it briefly here, and I know that other bloggers and photographers also get down sometimes too.

One place I have particularly noticed I have started to become lazy, is with my 365 project. I want to document a year of my life in photos, but often when I come home from work, all I do is sit on the sofa, respond to emails, and do research. Not really something I can photograph every single day. Plus I don't want to take my camera to work and be the ponce that takes photos. Especially because about half the people I work with are photographers too.

So I just take snapshots, leave them unedited, and well, leave it at that. So this week I decided to actually care a bit more about them. And then I forgot to post them.... Well done Lucy. So Friday night I posted them up, and I thought I would share the before and afters to show the difference. It may be minimal, but it means I'm a bit prouder of my work. A lot of what I photograph for my 365 project is just of stuff around my house. It's pretty boring, and the light is bad, so they are never gonna be my best photos.

Before

After

 Before

 After

 Before

 After (B&W)

 After

 Before

 After

So now I'm gonna try to take my camera out and about with me more, and do stuff in my day more. It might help my sanity a bit too :).

I have noticed this 'laziness' in other areas of my photography too, and I really hate it. Where has the drive gone? I can back from Canada so desperate to be inspired and creative again, and I threw myself into it wholly. I went full steam ahead and did all that I could. Now that I have had a full time job again for a month, the time and energy I put into that, is now going into my work. I find starting new jobs quite tiring, and it really effects my back too (I have quite a serious back condition). So apparently keeping up the inspirational momentum is just as hard as finding it to begin with!

It's noticeable here too; I forget to post, and my readership goes down. I get tired, quick and lazy; my readership goes down.

So hopefully we can start fixing these problems. And hopefully you will notice the difference!

Abiento x